Nato allies have also intercepted some ships from Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of oil and cargo ships that Moscow has used to evade western sanctions. Swedish authorities boarded one cargo vessel under sanctions in December, and Baltic nations reported six suspicious cable incidents within six days earlier this month.

A US Navy veteran “abducted” by Russia has been jailed for five years for illegally transporting weapons. A court in Russia on Monday announced it had found Charles Zimmerman guilty after a rifle was found on his yacht when he docked in the port city of Sochi last year.

Chinese, Russian and Iranian warships have launched a week of naval drills with host South African off the coast of Cape Town as geopolitical tensions run high over the United States’ intervention in Venezuela.

U.S. Navy veteran Charles Wayne Zimmerman was sentenced to 5 years in Russian prison after allegedly failing to declare a firearm oboard his yacht in Sochi port.